Specialtours
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Specialtours BOSTON ATHENÆUM SICILY with Director and Librarian Paula Matthews and Guest Lecturer Peter Lauritzen September 14 - 26, 2013 _____________________________________________________ SICILY September 14 - 26, 2013 with Guest Lecturer Peter Lauritzen This tour of the Mediterranean’s largest island allows ample opportunity to explore in detail the breathtaking treasures of a millennial culture and civilization. Long before Florence or even Rome had any significance in the Italian cultural story, Sicily was at the heart of a great civilization. Our twelve-day exploration begins in Taormina, famous for its dramatic situation high above the Ionian sea, a refuge for Greeks from the island’s oldest colony, Naxos, just south of the Messina straits which we cross to see the legendary “Bronzes of Riace,” the finest heroic sculptures to survive anywhere in the classical world. Our drives along Sicily’s eastern coastline take us beneath the constantly erupting volcano of Aetna, first described by Pindar in an ode celebrating the triumph of a Sicilian Greek tyrant at the Olympic Games. Two nights in Syracuse in a hotel overlooking the port which saw the defeat of the mighty Athenian navy by Dorian Greeks in 413 B.C. in an epochal action described by Thucydides, allow us to explore monuments of Sicily’s Greek past such as the largest Greek theater ever excavated, the quarries where thousands of Athenian prisoners were imprisoned by the Syracusans, along with the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, second oldest in the Greek world, or the Temple of Athena built to commemorate a great Greek victory on October 20th, 480 B.C., the very day that saw the salvation of Greek Democracy at the Battle of Salamis among the islands in the Bay of Athens. But like our visit the day before to a great private patrician palace in Catania or our lunch in the gardens of a princely Roman family, our dinner in Palazzo Beneventano on Syracuse’s most beautiful square allows us to appreciate another era of Sicilian splendor some 2200 years later at the height of a lavish Baroque culture when Sicily was governed from Palermo by Spanish viceroys. Leaving Syracuse for Agrigento, we stop at the little known site of Hellenistic Morgantina, source of looted treasures at long last returned to the exquisite little local museum from the Getty Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of New York. At nearby Piazza Armerina, the newly re-housed and reopened site of an imperial villa now displays the most extensive Roman mosaic pavements to be found in situ anywhere in the ancient world, while our completely refurbished hotel at Agrigento is a villa set in the olive and almond groves of an amazing archaeological park containing more than a half dozen examples of fifth-century B.C. Doric temple architecture, many illuminated at night for a spectacular vision of classical beauty and harmony. Selinunte by the sea and Segesta high in the mountains brings our classical tour to a suitably dramatic conclusion, while our hotel in the very heart of historic Palermo, first made a capital of the islands by its Saracen conquerors, allows us a convenient base for exploring the legacy of the city’s Norman and Imperial conquerors. The Normans enriched Palermo with the fabulous mosaic decoration of churches built to enhance their kingdom in the south, from the recently restored Palatine Chapel and the later Royal Abbey of Monreale to their intended mausoleum church at Cefalú. The last Norman heiress became the mother of one of Sicily’s most famed rulers, the Hohenstaufen Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, still known to European history as “Stupor Mundi,” the Wonder of the World. His granddaughter would bring his beloved kingdom to the rulers of Aragon and through their marriage to Queen Isabella la Cattolica of Castille into the empire of Spain. This last fabulous period in the history of Sicilian art brings us to encounter one of the most exquisite treasures of Italian renaissance painting by Antonello da Messina, to see the astonishing decorative skill of workers in marmi mischi and to meet Giacomo Serpotta, a sculptor worthy of the finest Europe could produce in the eighteenth century. Private visits and entertainments in Palermo at the house of Giuseppe Lanza Tomasi di Lampedusa’s adopted son and heir as well as a reception in the palace where Luchino Visconti filmed the most spectacular scenes for Lampedusa’s masterpiece “Il Gattopardo” (“The Leopard”) bring our twelve days to a suitably impressive conclusion. _____________________________________________________ SICILY September 14 - 26, 2013 ITINERARY (subject to amendment) Saturday September 14th Depart USA on flights to Rome. Sunday September 15th Arrive Rome Fiumicino International airport. Take connecting flight to Catania in Sicily. Be met by mini-van, driver and our Guest Lecturer for the transfer to Taormina. Check into the five-star Hotel San Domenico. Optional late afternoon orientation walk in the town. Evening reception with an introduction to the tour, followed by dinner in the hotel (on the terrace-weather permitting). TAORMINA Monday September 16th Drive by mini-van along the coast to Messina, crossing the Straits of Messina to Reggio di Calabria. Visit the Archaeological Museum to see the fifth- century “Bronzes of Riace.” Return to Taormina Buffet lunch at Casa Cuseni, home of the late Daphne Phelps. Afternoon at leisure Dinner independently TAORMINA Tuesday September 17th Visit the Greco-Roman Theatre and walk through Taormina to see the Roman Odeon and Naumachia, the Arabo-Norman Palazzo Corvaja and the Gothic and Baroque palaces and churches of the town with a visit to the Norman cathedral. Lunch on the terrace (weather permitting) of the Grand Hotel Timeo with time to explore the gardens. Afternoon at leisure Dinner independently TAORMINA Wednesday September 18th Depart Taormina (with luggage) to spend the morning visiting Catania. Drive the length of the Via Aetnea, passing the remains of the Roman amphitheatre where St. Agatha was martyred. Pass the churches of San Michele and the Collegiata on foot to see the University buildings and the Cathedral Square. Walk through the picturesque market before continuing on past Sant’Agata and the Norman apses of the Duomo to the great baroque Palazzo _____________________________________________________ Biscari, to visit the state and private apartments at the kind invitation of the Princess Moncada and her son. Continue to Lentini. Lunch at the Case del Bivere of Princess Maria Carla Borghese and on to the gardens. After lunch drive to Syracuse passing the great fourth-century B.C. Greek fortifications of Epipolae before reaching the ancient city’s peninsula, Ortygia. Check into the Grand Hotel Ortygia (harbor-view rooms) for two nights. Afternoon walk to visit the ruins of the sixth-century B.C. Temple of Apollo, followed by a visit to the cathedral built on the site of the Greek Temple of Athena. Return to the hotel for dinner in the roof top restaurant. SYRACUSE Thursday September 19th Drive to visit the Archaeological Museum, including the collection of antique Greek coins, before visiting the ancient Greek theatre and the adjacent stone quarries. Lunch at Ristorante Le Antiche Siracusane. Afternoon at leisure with an opportunity to explore Ortygia or visit the Palazzo Bellomo Museum. Evening reception and dinner as guests of Baron and Baroness Beneventano in the magnificent Palazzo Beneventano del Bosco on the Cathedral Square. SYRACUSE Friday September 20th Leave Syracuse (with luggage) to visit the little-known archaeological site of Morgantina and the museum of Aidone. Lunch at Ristorante da Totò in the town of Piazza Armerina. After lunch visit the extraordinary Villa Imperiale with its remarkable Roman mosaic floors. Continue to Agrigento and check into the luxury Hotel Villa Athena (Temple- view rooms) set in the olive and almond groves of the archaeological zone for a stay of two nights. Dinner in hotel AGRIGENTO Saturday September 21st Drive to visit the extraordinary Greek Doric temples of Agrigento on foot. Afterwards visit the remarkable small Archaeological Museum of Agrigento. Buffet lunch at the Villa Athena Hotel. Afternoon at leisure with a visit to see the Sunday evening passeggiata in Agrigento. Dine in the hotel AGRIGENTO Sunday September 22nd Depart Agrigento (with luggage) for Palermo, stopping to visit Selinunte and its fifth-century B.C. Doric temple, Acropolis, Hippodamaean planned city, and fourth-century B.C. fortifications. _____________________________________________________ Lunch in Selinunte with view of sea. After lunch continue to Segesta to visit the Hellenistic Greek and the extraordinary Doric temple. Drive into Palermo to check into the Hotel Centrale Palace in the heart of the historic city for a stay of four nights. Dine in the rooftop restaurant of the hotel. PALERMO Monday September 23rd Drive to visit Palermo’s Archaeological Museum and continue on to the Palace of the Normans and its Palatine Chapel. Walk to visit the church and garden of San Giovanni degli Eremiti and drive to visit the Cathedral and see the tombs of the Kings of Sicily. Lunch in Monreale. After lunch visit the great Cathedral and its cloisters before returning to Palermo to visit the Norman church of the Martorana and San Cataldo. Dinner independently PALERMO Tuesday September 24th Walk to visit the Quattro Canti and continue on foot past the church of San Francesco to visit the Palazzo Mirto and the collections of the Museo Nazionale in Palazzo Abatellis. Leave by coach for Cefalù for lunch in a restaurant overlooking the sea. Visit the Mandralisca Museum and the great Norman cathedral of Cefalù. Return to Palermo. Evening performance at the Teatro Massimo (subject to scheduling). PALERMO Wednesday September 25th Walk to see the Jesuit church of the Casa Professa and the church of Santa Caterina. Visit the Oratorian church of San Giuseppe before continuing to visit the Oratory of San Lorenzo, the Oratory of Santa Maria del Rosario and the Oratory of Santa Cita.